Wayward Son: Grounded
by Rainy Meadows
Summary: The months that follow the Fullmetal Alchemist's departure from Atmos, and the life of the Storm Hawks during that time. Contains spoilers for Wayward Son.
1. Chapter 1

Radarr was the only other one awake.

Stork was at the helm, standing up with his hands on the bow, but closer inspection proved that he was fast asleep. It wasn't the first time he'd been caught sleep steering and it probably wouldn't be the last.

Not too surprising, considering the circumstances.

Finn and Junko were on the couch next to the strategy table. Junko was curled up, cuddling Finn's body and snoring so loud it was a miracle the entire Atmos couldn't hear him. Finn was slumped over the table, his head resting on his folded arms, eyes softly closed, probably dreaming about shooting Talons out of the sky with a hot babe by his side.

Not surprising either. This was the first sleep both of them had had in four days.

He moved like a ghost through the Condor, taking full advantage of the many vents that ran through the ship like a three-dimensional maze, until he arrived at the ship's medical bay.

Piper lay on one of the beds, but she wasn't sick, unless exhaustion was a sickness. The bags under her eyes were so large she could probably use them to hold her crystals, and hopefully they would have lessened a little by the time she woke up.

Radarr lightly dropped down onto the other bed.

Or more specifically, the person who occupied it.

Aerrow groaned in agony for what had to be the fifth time that night, and slowly opened his eyes to see what the disturbance was.

"Hey," he said, his voice quietened by how tired he was - he seemed to be competing with Piper for the title of Biggest Eye Bags. "Has Doctor Clipwing left?"

Radarr nodded.

"It's so quiet," Aerrow whispered. "Is everyone else asleep?"

His co-pilot nodded again.

"I'm not surprised," he said. "Can't imagine how tired they all must be. Are you tired?"

Radarr yawned, and Aerrow lifted his arm, welcoming him for a cuddle to which the small creature was all too happy to oblige.

"This hurts _so_ much," the Sky Knight muttered. "It'll all be worth it in the end, though."

He glanced down at his left shoulder, at the metal now fused and bolted to his body that was causing him pain. He didn't have the strength to reach it and even if he did, he probably wouldn't have been able to do anything other than clutch at his bandages and moan.

"I guess I'll try to get some sleep," he said. "How long has it been, a week? Feels about right..."

He closed his eyes and fell back, asleep before his head hit the pillow. Radarr curled up by his side and it wasn't long before he too was napping peacefully.

It was half past three in the morning.

Two weeks after the departure of Edward Elric.


	2. Chapter 2

"Guys! GUYS!"

Finn burst onto the bridge yelling at the top of his lungs.

"Guys," he said, "you're not gonna believe what's going on!"

"What?" asked Piper. "What is it?"

"Guess," said Finn. "I can't tell you, just guess!"

"You finally changed your socks?" Piper suggested.

"No, but-"

"There's an ice cream truck going by outside?" asked Junko excitedly.

"I wish there was, but-"

"Ooh! Ooh! I giant swarm of brain-consuming mosquitoes from Terra Amazonia are flying this way to suck out our frontal lobes through our nostrils?" guessed Stork.

Everybody else stared at him in shock and confusion.

"Hey, you said guess," he pointed out.

Finn let out a sound halfway between a sigh and a groan.

"Do you want me to just tell you?" he asked.

"Go right ahead," said Piper.

"Okay," said Finn. "Aerrow just took all of his painkillers at once and he is tripping out!"

"He what?!" Piper sprang to her feet in shock. "Is he okay?"

"I dunno, but he is saying some really weird things," said Finn. "Does anybody have a camera or something? We have gotta record this!"

"Finn, this is serious!" Piper objected. "What if it turns out he's allergic to something?"

"Then I would've come and told you guys he was having a reaction, I'm not stupid!" Finn insisted, and then looked to his Wallop friend. "Junko, could you help a buddy out? _Pleeeeeeease?_"

Junko hesitated, his face betraying his worry.

Finn clasped his hands together in pleading, along with his best puppy-dog eyes and pout.

"I'll go get the camera!" cried Junko as he gave in and leapt up with a massive smile.

"Awesome!" said Finn.

"Guys, you..." Piper trailed off as the two rowdy boys left the room.

She sighed.

"What am I gonna do with them?" she asked.

"Strand them in the Wastelands until they grow a sense of self-awareness?" Stork suggested, and at Piper's glare he said, "Hey, you asked."

* * *

Aerrow's head was pounding like a bass drum when he finally awakened. He rubbed his temples in the hopes of easing it, but that didn't do any good whatsoever. It didn't help either that his stomach felt like it was doing acrobatics inside his body.

When he opened his eyes he was faced with Radarr, who was staring at him with a look of concern.

"What?" he said. "What happened?"

Radarr held up a finger, indicating for him to wait, and then scampered out of the room.

Aerrow awkwardly pulled himself into a sitting position and carefully cradled his left arm with his right, and adjusted his sling a little for extra comfort. He'd hoped those pills would stop his shoulder from hurting, but the ache was back full force and he honestly wanted to scream, but didn't for all the chaos it would cause. And also his stomach felt like it was tap-dancing on his insides and if he opened his mouth too wide he'd probably throw up.

He didn't touch his shoulder. He'd just make it worse if he did.

"Aerrow, you're awake!"

He looked up as Piper entered the room and Radarr returned to his side.

"How do you feel?" she asked.

"Not good," Aerrow confessed. "My head's killing me and I feel like I'm gonna hurl."

"It's your own fault for taking all those pills at once," Piper scolded as she sat on his bed. "What were you thinking, Aerrow? Is your arm really hurting you that much? Couldn't you have told someone?"

The redhead bowed his head in shame.

"Could you let me have a look?" Piper asked.

"Piper!" Aerrow's face flushed the colour of his hair. "You know I'd have to-"

"You don't have anything I haven't seen plenty of times before," his female friend pointed out, and she reached up and gently removed his sling, laying his arm down by his side. "Now come on, don't be shy."

Aerrow nodded, slipped his right arm into his shirt and pulled it over his head, but hesitated when it came to his left shoulder.

"It's just me," said Piper. "Well, just me and Radarr. Come on."

Radarr gave his Sky Knight friend an annoyed look, and Aerrow reluctantly slid his shirt off his left arm.

"Wow, no wonder you took all those pills!" Piper exclaimed, gently brushing her fingers over his inflamed skin. "Why didn't you tell anyone about this? I can't believe how painful it looks; how long has it been like this?"

"I dunno," said Aerrow, who would have shrugged if he could. "Since the surgery?"

Piper sighed.

"I warned you this was gonna happen," she told him. "You shouldn't have been walking around when it isn't properly healed yet. I want you to lie down as flat as you can. Radarr, you go and get some books out of my room."

As Aerrow lay back down and Radarr ran out again, Piper dragged the box being used as a bedside table over to the other side of the room. This way Aerrow's arm could rest on it, rather than lying next to him on his bed.

"I know you want to get back to work as quickly as possible, but the sad fact is that you aren't going anywhere until your shoulder's healed properly," she told him, and lifted up his left arm.

She paused.

"Piper?" said Aerrow. "What is it? What's wrong?"

She gently held his metal hand. The look in her eyes was heart-wrenching.

"Can you feel that?" she asked. "Can you feel my hands?"

Aerrow shook his head.

"It's weird," he told her. "I can't feel it, but I can sorta remember what it would feel like, so I almost... it's kinda hard to explain."

The door opened, but it wasn't Radarr.

Unfortunately.

"Well, well, well." Finn smiled smugly as he crossed his arms. "I come to see if Aerrow's still tripping and what do I happen to find?"

"Drop dead, Finn," said Piper, and she threw Aerrow's shirt at his face.

"Tripping?" Aerrow was baffled. "What do you mean, 'tripping'?"

"You didn't seriously think those pills would just stop your shoulder hurting, did you?" Finn asked as he unceremoniously dropped the garment on the floor, and to Piper he said "Has he said anything else about pudding?"

"Pudding?" Aerrow said, and glanced nervously at his female friend.

"You don't wanna know," said Piper. "Just get out of here, Finn. There's nothing to see here, move along!"

"Okay," Finn said, and smiled slyly at them as he turned the corner. "Stork wants me to pack up the film stuff anyway. Bye-bye, love birds."

He left. Thankfully.

"What was he talking about?" Aerrow asked. "No, on second thought, don't bother. Whatever it was, I'm guessing it's embarrassing."

"He got it all on tape if you ever do want to know," Piper informed him. "What's taking Radarr so long?"

As if on cue the door opened again, and a large stack of books slowly slid into the room.

"Here he is," said Aerrow.

"Radarr!" Piper exclaimed in shock. "You didn't have to bring all of them!"

The small blue creature poked his head around the stack, his face a picture of pure annoyance. The two teenagers couldn't help but laugh.

"Thanks for the thought, buddy," Aerrow said.

Piper took a few off the top of the stack and arranged them on the box, and gently laid Aerrow's arm on top of them.

"I know this is really annoying," she said, "but until that shoulder of yours heals properly, you can't be trying to lift this arm. I'm sorry, but it's just too much strain. And don't OD on painkillers again, okay?"

"They take a whole half-hour to kick in," Aerrow pointed out. "What am I supposed to do?"

Piper hesitated again.

"I don't know," she said sadly. "This is all still a pretty big shock."

Aerrow looked solemnly at his artificial arm.

"I know how you feel," he said.

It was a quarter past four in the afternoon.

Three weeks after the departure of Edward Elric.


	3. Chapter 3

"Hey, Radarr?" said Aerrow. "You awake?"

Radarr poked his head up with a sleepy frown.

"Sorry to wake you," the redhead said with an apologetic smile. "Do you think you could help me up? I'm kinda thirsty."

Radarr shook his head with a growl of frustration, and Aerrow rolled his eyes.

"Fine," he sighed, and he pressed himself up and supported his other arm once he was sitting. "I'll just go by myself then. Can you pass me my sling?"

His co-pilot shot him a more fearsome glare and shook his head again.

"Why not?"

Radarr jumped up onto his shoulder and tapped the metal socket that had been affixed to the Sky Knight's body.

"It's feeling much better, I swear!" he said. "Radarr, I can't live like this. I don't even remember how long I've spent just lying on this bed. I need to get up and stretch my legs, I-I'm bored! Am I really supposed to spend the next year just sitting here?"

He grabbed the scarf on his bedside table that he'd been using as a sling and tied it around his arm, making sure that both his elbow and wrist were supported around his neck, and the first thing he did after standing up was stretch his back.

"See?" he said. "It doesn't even hurt."

Giving up, Radarr leapt onto Aerrow's (right) shoulder to accompany him.

* * *

It was rather embarrassing that the mere act of getting a glass of water had become a two person job - or, in this case, a person-and-small-furry-creature-of-unidentified-species job - but Aerrow knew that until he was able to properly use his arm, he would have to put up with it.

"That's enough," he said, and Radarr turned the faucet off.

He almost choked when he tried to drink too quickly, and had to lean hard on the sink to avoid falling over as he coughed.

"It's okay," he croaked, "I'm fine!"

Radarr raised in eyebrow.

"Mostly fine," said Aerrow, and put down the glass with one final splutter. "Just let me try to... breathe."

He punched his chest a couple of times and cleared his throat.

"First it was standing up, now it's just drinking," he said. "Has somebody just put my life on the highest difficulty setting or something?"

His co-pilot shrugged.

"I don't know either," said Aerrow. "You can go back to bed, I'm gonna go outside and get some air."

Shocked, Radarr jumped up onto the Sky Knight's shoulder as he turned away.

"I'll be fine on my own," Aerrow insisted, "I know how to walk. My legs are fine, remember? It's my arm that's the problem. Trust me, I'll be okay."

He put on his sweetest possible smile.

Radarr rolled his eyes. There was just no reasoning with this guy when he was like this, was there? He jumped off Aerrow's shoulder and ran out, probably returning to his room.

Aerrow put the glass in the sink and left the same way, but turned in a different direction once he was out the door.

* * *

It was a strange night tonight. Warm enough to not need a jacket but too cold for short sleeves. Aerrow liked these kinds of nights, especially just before the winter chill rolled in.

And especially since said chill would probably wreak havoc on his shoulder.

He pulled the glove off his left hand.

It was so bizarre, looking at this thing. It was a part of his body and yet he hadn't even possessed it a few months ago. It was one of his major limbs and yet he couldn't seem to feel a thing with it.

The more he stared at it, the more he began to feel like he was falling, tumbling into a black void, held by thin unearthly tendril-like hands as images and information poured into his mind, overloading it to far beyond what he believed he could withstand even when he was sure he wouldn't be able to take anymore-

He was shocked back into the waking world by the feeling of his knees colliding with the ground, and tried to catch his breath.

He wasn't at the Gate.

He wasn't seeing Truth again.

He was here, safe and sound on the Condor, with a light breeze blowing through the air.

It was such a peaceful night.

He sat down, leaning against the railing whilst cradling his left arm, and stared hard at the metal hand.

'Come on,' he thought. 'Move. Just a little bit, come on!'

He felt strained from the effort, almost wanted to pass out, but he knew he had to try. If he couldn't at least try to move this thing, what was the point of even getting it?

'Just a finger,' he told himself. 'Just move one finger, that's all I need. Come on, you can do it! One finger, come on! Come on!'

But no matter how much he pushed himself, it didn't seem to work.

He sighed and dropped it.

It was no good.

If he could just move one finger, perhaps this would all feel worth something, but as it was he just felt-

Wait.

Did that just...

Aerrow looked down at his hand.

He had twitched his trigger finger.

Without even thinking about it, he was moving the prosthesis all by himself.

"Yes," he breathed, smiling with surprise and joy. "Yes!"

It was twenty-two minutes past eleven at night.

Six weeks after the departure of Edward Elric.


	4. Chapter 4

Piper took the record off its player.

"Hey, I was listening to that!" Finn complained. "Why d'you always have to kill my buzz?"

"Buzz?" said Piper, eyeing record with disgust. "Is that what that noise was? I honestly couldn't tell with how loud and obnoxious it sounded."

"There is nothing loud and obnoxious about it," Finn said as he walked over and yanked the record from her hands. "You're just jealous of how epic it is because you have bad taste in music. Your stuff's so boring! It doesn't even have any guitar solos!"

"You guys, shush!" Junko whispered loudly. "You're gonna wake up Aerrow!"

The bickering pair froze and looked over at the couch around the strategy table.

"Sorry," they whispered.

"Found anything yet, Stork?" Junko asked.

"I'm trying," Stork replied, twisting and turning the bottle and examining every possible side. "I swear, you'd need a microscope to read this writing. Are these painkillers for ants?"

"If they were, that would probably explain why he still feels the need to take so many at once," Piper suggested.

"This is kinda disappointing," said Finn, leaning on the couch and looking down at their leader's snoozing face. "I'd hoped he'd get all weird again and start saying stuff about frogs, but this time he just dropped off! You comfy there, Stork?"

Stork briefly broke his concentration on the bottle and looked down at the peaceful teenager.

"His head is heavier than it looks," he commented. "If he stays there any longer he'll cut off the circulation in my legs."

"Let him sleep," said Junko. "I think we should just be glad he's not screaming again."

The rest of the Storm Hawks nodded in agreement.

Radarr jumped up onto the table and took the bottle out of Stork's hands, and after around half a minute of looking it over, he pointed out something in small print and in such a pale shade of grey it almost blended into the white plastic.

Stork squinted at it.

"Side effects may include headaches, nausea, dizziness and drowsiness," he read. "That settles it. No more of these, we're switching brands."

"Speaking of switching," said Piper, "Finn, you can have your music next week. This week, it's my turn."

"You know what?" Finn snatched the record out of her hand. "How about I just don't bother?"

He tossed the vinyl disc to one side.

But there wasn't the crash he expected.

"I had really thought you'd grown out of that by now, Finn," said a familiar, accented voice. "Is it so hard simply to compromise?"

The entire squadron looked to the newcomer in shock, but none were more alarmed than Piper.

"Starling!" she exclaimed, and immediately struggled to look casual. "What... uh... wh-what're you doing here?"

"There's something I need to ask you all," the Interceptor explained as she approached, holding the record in one hand and a folded newspaper in the other, "and it's vital that you tell me the truth."

"What is it?" asked Junko nervously.

Starling tossed the newspaper onto the table. From her position she had yet to catch sight of Aerrow.

"I need to know if this is true," she said, "and if so, why nobody was informed."

Radarr picked up the paper and read the headline. He sighed and rolled his eyes before holding it up for all to see:

**AERROW DEAD?**

Finn took it from the blue creature's paws.

"_'Over three months have passed since the famous and simultaneously infamous Storm Hawks made any actions of note to the world of Atmos_'," he read aloud, "'_and rumours have begun to circulate of tragedy within the squadron_.' Oh man, I can't read this."

He buried his face in his hand and passed the paper to Piper.

"'_The legendary Condor has made multiple reported appearances and is still known to exist and function_'," she read, "'_as has the rest of the squadron in various locations and terras, but the charismatic and fiery leader has not been seen by anybody outside the carrier for close to thirteen weeks_'."

She gave the paper to Stork. Judging by her face, she didn't seem to know how to feel. Finn, meanwhile, was sniggering into his hands, causing Starling to raise an eyebrow in suspicion.

"'_It has been speculated by many that Aerrow, the renowned teenage warrior already loved and respected throughout Atmos for foiling multiple Cyclonian conquests and being the first Sky Knight ever to defeat the infamous Dark Ace in single combat, may have met with an untimely end which has caused the squadron to withdraw from the public eye_'," he continued, and held it out for Junko to take. "Using the word 'infamous' twice within three paragraphs; that's not a good sign."

Junko pulled out his glasses and put them on before he continued the impromptu group reading session.

"'_The current whereabouts of the Storm Hawks are as yet unknown_'," he read, "'_and so the spunky squadron has been unavailable for comment, furthering rumours of a prolonged state of mourning for their lost leader_'. Are we 'spunky'? I don't feel spunky, is that bad?"

"This is the latest edition of the Atmos Access, as printed yesterday evening," Starling explained. "I have noticed a strange absence of activity from you all lately, which is why I came here to ask you if what that paper says is true."

The group all looked to each other, wondering what they should do.

"Well?" Starling said, folding her arms impatiently. "I'm waiting."

On the one hand, if anyone in Cyclonia believed that Aerrow was dead, they'd see it as a window of opportunity and no doubt launch an attack on some place or another. But if word got out that he was alive though handicapped, the same thing would happen; only the Storm Hawks would be a huge target and Aerrow's life would hang in the balance.

But then, this was Starling, an honorary Storm Hawk herself. Surely they could trust her, right?

Suddenly the object of discussion thrust his finger into the air.

"Let me just make one thing perfectly clear."

He grabbed the back of the couch and sat up to smile winningly at his purple-haired ally. He wavered slightly, but didn't fall down again.

"I'm not dead," he said, eyes sparkling despite the shadows surrounding them. "There is a reason I haven't been around much, but it's not because I'm dead! What gave people that idea?"

Starling, who had been more than a little surprised by his sudden appearance, quickly calmed herself into a smile.

"Well then," she said, "would you be so kind as to provide me with an explanation?"

Finn abruptly stopped laughing.

"I don't think that would be such a good idea," he said.

"And besides, it is a shockingly long story," said Stork. "Honestly, if we were to sit here and tell all of it, we'd be here for days and probably die of thirst."

"Guys, it's fine," said Aerrow, and he lifted his left arm onto the table. "It's Starling, remember? We can trust her, but..."

His smile faded as he looked back to her.

"Are you sure you want to hear this?" he asked.

Starling replied, "I'm all ears."

* * *

She sat at the table, elbows resting on its surface with one hand cupping her jaw and the other tapping out a slow, steady rhythm.

Aerrow watched her, waiting for a reaction and hoping he could pull down his left sleeve and put his glove on soon.

"The Philosopher's Stone..." she muttered as though trying to piece it all together, "a possible parallel world... alchemy... you were right, this is rather a lot to process."

"How do you think we feel?" asked Finn, and he was quickly elbowed in the gut by Piper.

"This Edward person," said Starling, "is he really as powerful as you say?"

"Well," said Finn, "I think we could say that people like him are in _short_ supply."

The Storm Hawks tried not to laugh.

"I don't really know about that," Junko chimed in, "'coz there are definitely people who think _little_ of him."

"And I don't quite think he could _measure up_ to..." Stork started, but he was laughing too hard to finish. Even Piper was quietly giggling to herself.

"Am I correct in assuming that this boy was, shall we say, vertically challenged?" asked Starling.

"He was a year older than me and he didn't even come up to my shoulder," Aerrow stated.

"I think it might have been because his automail was weighing him down," Piper suggested.

"And he was only eleven when he got it," Aerrow mentioned. "Poor guy. While we're on the subject, can I put my glove back on?"

"Sure," said Starling, and the redhead gratefully covered up his artificial arm.

"Hard to believe it's been this long already," said Piper. "Sometimes it feels like it was only three days ago."

"Yeah, and sometimes it's more like three years," Finn complained, and to Aerrow he said, "Dude, haven't you got the hang of that thing yet?"

"I can move the fingers," Aerrow said, and gave them a demonstrating flex. "Sorted that out a few days ago and my shoulder's been killing me ever since."

He looked to Starling.

"Sorry," he said, "but I'm probably gonna be out of action for a while longer."

The elder Sky Knight's brows furrowed. She was deep in thought.

"And you're absolutely sure that this boy and his people don't pose any threat to Atmos?" she asked. "We already have our hands full with Cyclonia; we don't need another superpower trying to invade. With this 'alchemy' of theirs, they could overwhelm this entire world in less than a week."

"I don't think anybody else where Ed comes from knows Atmos even exists," Aerrow pointed out. "For them it would be like trying to invade Fairyland."

"Besides, he said they don't even have crystals in Amestris," Piper recalled.

"Yeah, they rely on fossil fuels," said Junko. "He told me about this time he went to a town where all they did was mine coal. Literally, it was the whole reason the town was there!"

"No doubt he caught at least three different lung diseases from that experience," said Stork. "Can't believe I let him on my ship without disinfecting him."

"I'm betting he spilled the beans to someone but they didn't believe him," Finn added. "Shrimp like that couldn't keep his mouth shut if it was bolted."

"You're not gonna tell anyone about this, are you?" Aerrow asked Starling.

The female Sky Knight was deep in thought.

"I located the Storm Hawks on their carrier at Terra Amazonia," she said, "and upon investigation discovered their leader was 100% alive and experimenting with a new fighting technique. He has been in training for several weeks and does not know when it is going to be perfected, but plans to unleash hell in his next battle. How does that sound?"

The squadron looked to each other.

"Sounds pretty awesome to me," said Aerrow, and his companions nodded in agreement.

Starling smiled.

"Very well," she said as she got up. "I'll be able to see myself out. Aerrow, would you mind speaking with me in private?"

"Huh? Uh, sure," Aerrow said nervously, and he followed her off the bridge.

Piper almost collapsed with relief.

"Please tell me I wasn't too weird," she said. "Did I seem weird?"

"Piper, that's Starling," Finn pointed out. "We're all totally weird and she knows it."

"What do you think she's talking to Aerrow about?" asked Junko.

"I'm willing to bet it's something dangerous," said Stork.

"Dude," said Finn, "you think everything is something dangerous."

"And exactly how many times have I turned out to be right?"

Finn scowled in disapproval.

"Fine," he huffed.

* * *

"What is it you wanted to talk to me about?" Aerrow asked.

"Forgive me for bringing this up again," said Starling, "but you said that going through the Gate of Truth was like having the whole universe inserted into your mind. Is that correct?"

"That's what it felt like," said Aerrow. "It was a pretty big shock to lose my arm so suddenly, but considering what happened, I'm kinda glad it was my arm and nothing else."

"You also informed me that after going through the same experience, this Edward boy could perform alchemy simply by clapping his hands," Starling recalled as they entered the hangar bay.

Aerrow raised his eyebrow suspiciously.

"Where are you going with this?" he asked.

Starling mounted her ride.

"How do you know you don't now have the same capabilities?" she asked. "Did the possibility ever occur to you?"

Aerrow was taken aback.

He looked down at his hands - one metal, one flesh - and the implication of her words finally began to sink in.

"You think..." he said, "...you think I could... be an alchemist?"

"It could be likely," Starling replied. "How strange it is that in circumstance, you and Edward seem almost perfectly matched."

The redhead looked up from his hands.

"At least this should keep you busy while you're recovering," said the Interceptor. "Good luck."

With that, she departed.

Aerrow stared after her, his mind racing with what she had suggested. So deep in thought was he that he didn't even notice Piper entering.

"So she's gone?" he heard her say behind him. "What did she want to talk to you about?"

He looked back down at his hands.

"Aerrow," said Piper. "You okay?"

He was more than okay.

The redhead clenched his fists, determination written all over his face.

"Piper," he said, "I'm gonna need to borrow some of your books."

It was ten past twelve noon.

Three months after the departure of Edward Elric.


	5. Chapter 5

"Okay," Finn said as he cracked his knuckles, "let's do this again."

"I'm not gonna mess up like I did last time," said Aerrow. "I'm gonna nail it this time, I can feel it."

"We'll see about that," said Finn, and he opened the book so the redhead couldn't see the arrangement of squares and letters on the page before him.

"Ag," he recited smugly.

"Silver," said Aerrow.

Finn cast him a sceptical look, but didn't correct him.

"K," he said.

"Potassium," Aerrow replied.

Finn's face fell even further.

"Se," he tried.

"Selenium," said Aerrow.

"B."

"Boron."

"Ne."

"Neon."

"Sb."

"Antimony."

"W."

"Tungsten."

"Hg."

"Mercury."

"Fe."

"Iron."

"Dude, you can't see these, can you?" Finn demanded, holding the book so it was almost vertical. "'Coz I don't see any other way you could be getting literally every single one of these right."

"It's called studying, Finn," Aerrow said flatly. "I get the feeling that if we'd had normal lives, I'd be forcing you to do it with a cattle prod."

The marksman sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Let's do something a bit different," he said. "What's the symbol for carbon?"

"C," Aerrow replied confidently.

Finn gritted his teeth in frustration. He was losing and he knew it, and he didn't like it one little bit.

"Oxygen," he said.

"O," said Aerrow.

"Sodium."

"Na."

"Hydrogen."

"H."

"Copper."

"Cu."

"Helium."

"He."

"Gold!"

"Au."

"Will you stop getting all of these right?" Finn almost shouted in anger. "It's no fun if you're never wrong!"

"I thought the whole point of this was that I was supposed to not get them wrong," Aerrow pointed out.

"Yeah, but it was supposed to take ages!" objected Finn. "Like, a year! Year-and-a-half, tops! How in sky's name have you got these so quick?!"

"I don't know!" insisted Aerrow. "I swear, I don't know how I'm remembering all this so easily! My only guess is it's something to do with the reason we're doing this in the first place."

For a brief moment, Finn's face became solemn.

"Fine," he said, snapping himself back. "That was easy and medium mode. Get ready for difficult!"

"Atomic numbers? Bring it on," Aerrow said with a smile.

"Uh, can you tell me which the atomic numbers are again? 'Coz each of these has two in it."

"It's the number of electrons the nucleus has orbiting around it."

Finn's eyebrow rose even further. Even Aerrow seemed stunned by what he'd just said.

"It's the one above the letters."

"Oh right. Okay, uh... 16."

"Sulphur."

"30."

"Zinc."

"48."

"Cadmium."

"20."

"Calcium."

"78."

"Platinum."

"36."

"Krypton."

"82!"

"Lead. Is something wrong?"

This time, Finn let out an almighty groan while slapping the book into his face and falling backwards onto the bed.

"You're no fun anymore!" he complained loudly. "You're making me feel stupid!"

Aerrow lifted the book up by the spine so he could see his friend's face.

"Don't you think you're being a bit dramatic?" he asked. "That's Stork's job, not yours."

"Yeah," said Finn with a scowl, "but Stork's not the one testing you, is he?"

"It was his turn last week," Aerrow pointed out. "It would be unfair to make him do it two weeks in a row. Besides, you doing it with me means I get to do this!"

He ripped the pillow out from under Finn's head and the marksman barely had time to stare at him in shock before Aerrow threw it at his face.

"C'mon!" he said, rising to his knees and pulling up a fist, preparing for a fight. "Didn't that piss you off? You gonna fight back or what?"

"Dude, no!" Finn seemed aghast at the thought. "What's gotten into you?"

"Oh, gimme a break," Aerrow said, "I haven't been able to spar properly in months!"

"Uh, yeah, and there's a damn good reason for that!" Finn pointed out, and he leaned forward and tapped on the Sky Knight's left shoulder.

"It doesn't hurt," said Aerrow, "I swear it. And I've gotten much better with it!"

"Oh yeah? Prove it." Finn laid the book open between them. "Turn a page. Go on."

He sat back with his arms crossed, an expression on his face of pure impatience.

Aerrow tried to reach for the book. He poured every last ounce of his strength and energy into his left shoulder, trying to force himself to at least get close enough to touch the paper. His fingers clenched and unclenched as he tried to concentrate and he could feel his wrist shifting slightly in his favour.

But that was it.

He was suddenly hit with a stabbing pain in his shoulder and collapsed against the wall, clutching the socket and groaning.

"What'd I say?" asked Finn.

Realising he was defeated, Aerrow sighed.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I just... I can't stand just being cooped up in the Condor. All this studying is kinda helping take my mind off it but... I dunno. I almost feel like a prisoner."

"But you're not," said Finn. "You're the one who's keeping yourself on board, Aerrow. You could go anywhere you wanted!"

"With this?" Aerrow held up his artificial arm with his flesh one and demonstrated the wrist twitch, which so far was the extent of his control over the limb. "That's as much as I can do. Starling's bought us some time, but if word got around that I was gonna be out of action for another half year at least, everything would go to hell."

"Well, you're gonna have to come out sooner or later," said Finn as he leaned against the wall, and then he frowned. "That didn't sound right."

"But I get what you're saying," said Aerrow. "At least I'm putting some of that mess in here-" he pointed at his forehead "-to use."

He closed the book.

"What was it really like?" asked Finn.

"What was what like?"

"Going through... whatever it was you had to go through. That Gate thing and all the stuff inside it. What was that actually like? I know you've said it before, but it kinda sounded like you weren't telling the whole truth."

"It was..." Aerrow said hesitantly.

He looked away and swallowed hard, trying not to let his discomfort show too much.

"It was terrifying," he said. "It was like... like all the knowledge and information in the universe was being poured into my mind. I didn't think I was gonna survive, I thought... I thought my skull was gonna explode just from the strain and... and I can tell I know things. Things people aren't supposed to know. And they're just hanging in the back of my mind, waiting for me to find them, but... but I don't want to know what'll happen if I try to access it all. Just going into the Gate and getting it all cost me my whole arm, so..."

He gently rubbed the skin where it met with the metal of his automail socket.

"...I don't want to have to die," he said. "I'm supposed to defend Atmos, remember? And I don't want to be unable to do that. I don't want this world to be vulnerable because of my weakness."

He didn't know how long he could sit there, staring at the floor. He had no idea how much of an idiot he must look right now, sitting here, talking about how weak and incapable he was.

So it came as rather a shock when Finn pulled him into a hug.

"I'm not just hugging you," he said. "I'm hugging that guy who stuck his neck out for that girly-haired pipsqueak and didn't take no for an answer from anyone, even when it almost got him killed. The guy whose blood I had to spend hours scrubbing off the floor. 'Coz he probably needs it right now even more than you do!"

It took Aerrow a moment to realise what he was talking about. When he did, he returned the hug as best he could with his one functioning arm.

"Thank you," he said.

It was five minutes to noon.

Four and a half months after the departure of Edward Elric.


	6. Chapter 6

"_Inside Atmos brings you news on the move! Breaking stories from all over the Atmos!_"

"Why are you shouting?" muttered Stork, only to be shushed heavily by Finn and Junko. He put his hands over his ears with an angry frown.

"_Everybody knows about Aerrow of the Storm Hawks_," the reporter pretty much yelled as clips of video footage of the eponymous Sky Knight were played to a soundtrack of exciting music. "_It's pretty much impossible to talk about Sky Knights without mentioning his exploits, despite spending only a little over a year on the job as of reporting!_"

"Oh boy," Aerrow whispered, and raised a hand to cover his face.

"_But nobody knew where he went half a year ago when he suddenly vanished from our skies like a ghost, sparking rumours of tragedy within the greatest heroes Atmos has ever known_."

The video switched to a street on Atmosia, with the camera quickly zooming on Aerrow walking next to Piper, he with his left arm in a sling, both of them nervously waving to somebody out of shot.

"_Well, guess who's back from the dead! Apparently the teenage superstar was involved in a devastating crash that rendered him unable to leave his ship for over half a year!_"

The next shot was of Aerrow, surrounded by reporter's microphones.

"None of you say anything," he said, trying to hide his face in his arm.

"What's the matter?" asked Piper. "You look fine! It's not like your arm is visible or anything."

"Yeah, but me and cameras don't mix!" the redhead complained.

"_Rumours of my death were, uh, exaggerated a little,_" said the obviously-uncomfortable Aerrow in the video. "_I'm looking forward to getting back to work. It's true that I might still be avoiding serious combat for a little while longer, I can't go making any accurate predictions yet, but I'm hoping to cruise the skies again before the year is finished. Trust me; I may be down, but I'm not out_."

"Oh god, that sounds so cheesy," real-time Aerrow moaned as in the recording he was shepherded away by Piper.

"_Here's hoping that sometime soon, the living legend will be back to flying high and looking good while doing it!_"

"Dude, I think that reporter has the hots for you," Finn quipped to the mortified Sky Knight.

"Nah, he says that about everyone," Junko pointed out as the newscast came to an end, Radarr took the reel off the projector and Stork uncovered his ears with a grateful sigh.

"Can we never get another one of those again?" he asked. "That reporter's cheeriness and optimism, it's… it's _sickening_."

"He is rather obnoxious," Piper admitted.

"Yeah," all the boys said together.

"At least this time he wasn't getting pictures taken of me behind bars," said Aerrow, "but I still wish I could've avoided getting this much publicity. It's embarrassing having all those cameras and microphones shoved in my face."

"Yeah, when they've got a way better face to shove 'em in right here!" said Finn, pointing at himself with his thumb.

"No, nobody's that desperate," said Stork.

"But was it really a good idea to go out like that?" asked Junko. "Now everybody's gonna know you're hurt, Aerrow!"

"I may be hurt, but I'm still alive," Aerrow stated. "And anyway, the reason I waited this long is because I've got enough control over my arm for it to look like I'm recovering from a bad fracture. And now that everyone has proof I'm still alive, it's definitely gonna put some minds at ease. And probably annoy plenty of others."

"The Dark Ace, for one," said Piper.

"Cyclonis for another," Finn added.

"I think Repton will probably be pretty peeved as well," said Junko.

"Not to mention that Cyclonian jailor who hates you so much," Stork said. "If he survived the Wastelands, that is…" He gave a sinister grin as his eye twitched uncontrollably.

"Guys, you're making it sound like everyone in Atmos hates me," Aerrow pointed out.

"Well, it's not like you've ever exactly avoided making enemies," Piper told him.

"I don't do it deliberately!"

"I'm not saying you do, it's just something that happens somehow."

Aerrow sighed.

"I meant what I said there," he said. "I can't wait for the day when I'm finally able to fight again."

"Yeah, but knowing you, you'll break it trying to pull some insane stunt and wind up exactly where you started," Stork deadpanned. "And you can count that as an official prediction."

"I'll be sure to," said Aerrow, equally as flat.

He looked down at his left hand and clenched and unclenched his fist a few times, then demonstrated – both to himself and his squad mates – how he could now bend and move the wrist as though it had never been lost to him.

"You can control it that much?" asked Junko, gazing in wonder.

"You bet," said Aerrow with a satisfied smile. "I swear it's getting easier every day. I can even kinda move the elbow now. Like I said, that's why I timed my appearance like that. So people don't get too suspicious. It barely even hurts anymore!"

"That's so great!" cried Junko, and he swept up the hapless Sky Knight in a massive hug.

"Does that mean we can stop buying painkillers now?" asked Stork. "So we can spend our money on more vital things like bug spray and cleaning cloths?"

"Junko, I think you'd better put Aerrow down before you undo all his hard work," said Piper.

"Yeah," said Finn, "I didn't know it was possible for people to turn that shade of blue."

"Oh," said Junko as he released the redhead, "sorry!"

Aerrow didn't reply. He was just trying his hardest to breathe.

"But seriously," said Finn, "that is pretty awesome. Probably better than that pipsqueak was doing."

"He had two, remember?" asked Piper.

"Yeah, and they cost him an arm and a leg," Finn said. "Literally!"

Despite his near-suffocation, Aerrow couldn't help but smile.

This was exactly the kind of time-wasting silliness he'd been missing.

It was twenty-three minutes past three in the afternoon.

Six and a half months after the departure of Edward Elric.


	7. Chapter 7

Aerrow took a deep breath.

'It has to work this time,' he told himself. 'This time it's gonna work. It _has_ to.'

He placed the small hunk of iron on the island in the kitchen.

'This is iron,' he recounted. 'Nothing special to it. There's no chrome, no paint on it, nothing. If I can change its shape to something different, then I'll know I'm getting somewhere.'

He pulled up his right arm in front of his body. If he remembered correctly, he had to press his hands together as though he was praying. It was easy enough with his right arm, but…

Using every other ounce of his effort, he hoisted up his left arm, concentrating as much as possible on keeping his elbow bent at the angle he needed. It had become far easier over these past few weeks and he was even beginning to move the shoulder, but that didn't mean it wasn't still difficult.

He didn't even know how much more respect for Ed he'd gained over these past months. He supposed that had it been anybody else, or if he'd just gone home and nothing else had happened, he would have forgotten the fiery blonde around two months later and gone right on with his life.

But as it was…

'A pyramid,' he decided. 'It's going to be a pyramid, just like the first time I saw him transmute. If I can do this, I've achieved something. I haven't spent the past five months reading and studying and researching for nothing.'

He pressed his hands together in front of his face as though he was praying, in exactly the same style he had seen Ed doing, then rested them atop the iron hunk.

Nothing happened.

He did it again. Still nothing.

'What is this?' he thought. 'What am I doing wrong?'

Had he been concentrating too much on keeping his left arm in the right position? That sounded like the most plausible explanation. Either that or there were some impurities in the metal he didn't know about.

Had he not made himself clear enough about the shape?

Or…

Or had he been wrong?

Had it all been a waste? Months and months of reading, studying, researching, memorising, trying as hard as he could to get as much information as he could in his head and understand this whole alchemy thing… had that all been for _nothing?!_

"Son of a bog howler," he muttered under his breath, burying his face in one of his hands.

What a waste.

If he couldn't do alchemy…

…did that mean he had lost his arm and been rendered completely incapable of fighting, almost permanently confined to the Condor…

…for _NOTHING?!_

The very thought was enraging! He felt like punching something. He felt like tearing this entire room, this entire ship, this entire _planet_ to shreds out of sheer, unchecked, irrepressible FURY.

But that wouldn't do him any good, would it?

So instead he just sat down on the floor against the wall, groaning in annoyance, and pounded his fist into his forehead (his right fist – he didn't want to give himself a concussion).

What was he missing? There was something vital that he hadn't noticed in those countless weeks of searching, wasn't there? What _was_ it? What had he missed? What was holding him back?

The door opened, and he didn't look up to see who it was.

"Everything okay?" It was Piper, and she sat down next to him. "What were you doing in here?"

Aerrow sighed.

"Nothing much," he said. "Just being a failure."

"Fail- what're you talking about?" asked the shocked Piper.

"I've spent months studying and researching everything there is to know in the Atmos," Aerrow explained. "I can recite the periodic table from memory and list all the compounds, solutions and alloys that can be created from the different elements. I literally know the structure of this planet inside and out. And after all that, I still couldn't even transmute a hunk of metal into a different shaped hunk of metal!"

He banged his head into his knees (and regretted it a few seconds later because it turned out his knees were rather bony). Piper, meanwhile, pulled down the metal in question and looked it over.

"Doesn't look like there's anything wrong with it," she commented. "Maybe you just weren't concentrating enough."

"No," said Aerrow. "It's not that."

He stared at the iron's surface, noting with dissatisfaction how dull its shine was.

"I'm missing something," he said quietly. "Something vital. I don't know what it is. Ed said the three steps of alchemy were understanding, deconstruction and reconstruction, but for some reason I can't get past the first part. There's something holding me back, but I don't know what it is!"

He threw the iron across the room in anger, then slumped back against the wall.

"Where did I go wrong?" he muttered. "What am I missing?"

"Maybe you're over thinking it," said Piper, and she slipped an arm around his shoulders in the hopes of comforting him. "You don't want to stress yourself out, after all. And anyway, maybe you should wait until you have your arm completely under control so you can focus on transmutations more."

Aerrow sighed again.

"Maybe," he whispered despondently.

Piper got up and approached the other end of the room, intending to pick up the fallen hunk of iron-

_**BOOM**_

-when a massive explosion from outside rocked the ship and she almost lost her footing.

"What was that?" she said fearfully.

Aerrow scrambled to his feet and the two teens ran full speed through the Condor until they reached the bridge.

"Did anybody else feel that?" Aerrow shouted to his squadron.

"Oh, we felt it alright!" said Finn, who was currently in the process of being helped up by Junko, the latter having apparently fallen on the former.

"Any idea what it was?" asked Piper. "Are we gonna have to get ready to fight?"

"Something tells me," said Stork from the helm, "that it may have something to do with _that!_"

He pointed through the windscreen, at something that seemed to be hovering in the sky, and Aerrow ran over to the railing to get a better look.

"What… the… _hell_…" he muttered, too stunned to raise his volume level any higher.

The sky over Terra Atmosia had been almost entirely filled by a truly immense, unsupported, unblinking, sharp-cornered steely grey eye. It stared straight down, not seeming to focus on anything in particular, and at its rim squirmed thin black tendrils which closer inspection proved to be arms.

"How is that possible?" Aerrow said breathlessly. "That's… the Eye of… how could that be here…?"

The ground under the Condor started to shake and the ship vibrated along with it.

"Stork, get us airborne!" commanded Aerrow. "Quickly, befo-"

His hands suddenly flew to his head and he screamed in agony as his legs folded under his body. Something inside his skull had suddenly ignited and was pleading to be let out by any means possible, pounding and throbbing and filling the Sky Knight's vision with blotches of black.

He heard his teammates calling his name as he fell to the floor, but he wasn't able to respond as the darkness engulfed him and he couldn't feel anything anymore.

* * *

Something cold and wet splattered all over his face and he was shocked back into the land of the living.

"Wake up, you lazy jerk!" Finn commanded harshly.

"Okay, I'm awake!" said Aerrow as he sat up, and noticed that he was on his now-drenched bed. "You wanna tell me how I got here?"

"You don't remember?" asked the marksman. "Dude, the sky exploded and then you blacked out! We've been getting distress calls for ages and nobody has any clue what's going on!"

Aerrow rubbed his head, having only just noticed how sore it was.

"How long was I out?" he asked.

"Only about half an hour," Finn told him. "Whatever was happening in the sky caused earthquakes all over Atmos, but they were worst on Terra Atmosia. You don't wanna go to the bridge right now. You won't be able to move for refugees. And besides, you probably don't want any of them to see you right now as you kinda look like a hobo."

"Hobo… huh?"

"Don't 'huh' me, man. You _know_ you haven't cut your hair in seven months!"

Stunned, Aerrow grabbed a strip of hair and examined it, noticing that it reached down quite a bit further than his chin.

"Wow," he muttered. "Can't believe I never noticed."

"Tell me you're not actually gonna try to become _him_. You've already got the automail and the coat. What're you gonna do, drop the Condor on your head so that you shrink?"

"I promise I'm not imitating Ed. I swear, I… I didn't even realise."

"Yeah, well one thing I don't _realise_ is how the hell this could have happened. Seriously, I have no idea what's going on out there and I was kinda hoping that since you went through that Gate and seem to know about that Eye, you'd be able to explain."

He sat down, cross-legged, on the floor. He looked more than a little like an angry schoolchild.

"Well?" he said huffily. "I'm waiting!"

"I don't know!" Aerrow cried in desperation. "I blacked out, remember? And I don't even know why! The only explanation I can think of is that somebody was doing a very, very, _very_ powerful transmutation."

Finn's expression changed from anger to confusion.

"But how would that be possible?" he asked. "As far as we know, you're the onl- you _could_ _be_ the only alchemist in Atmos. We would've known if Cyclonis was there and literally nobody else in Atmos even knows what alchemy is! So unless that transmutation was powerful enough to reach across from wherever that pipsqueak is…"

Aerrow's frown deepened as he cast his eyes upwards.

"Ed," he muttered, "what the hell are you doing?!"

* * *

He'd never felt so powerful in his entire life. He was fairly sure that by this point, every last drop of his blood had been substituted with adrenaline.

There were so many emotions coursing through his mind – determination, pride and grief among them – but they were all trumped by a breed of anger that he'd never imagined he would ever feel in his entire life.

And he hadn't even paused to consider the best part:

_He was winning._

His comrades and friends, almost everybody who had ever aided him on his journey, for months, for _years_… they were at his side and surrounding him, cheering him on, encouraging him not to give up and to beat down this waste, this pathetic creature, this monster, this unholy abomination that had no right whatsoever to exist in this world.

He slammed his fist into its face, slamming it to the ground with almost enough force to crack it, and then stood over it, glaring down at its crumpled form, eyes burning with unbridled fury.

"Get up, you miserable FUCK!" the Fullmetal Alchemist demanded, clenching his newly-returned fist in rage. "IT'S TIME YOU LEARNED WHY YOU'RE_ NOT IN OUR LEAGUE!_"

It was twenty-five minutes past one in the afternoon.

Seven and a half months after he had left Atmos.


	8. Chapter 8

"_Whoa._"

Aerrow raised a hand to shield his eyes from the sun.

"What's the matter?" asked Piper with a smile. "Did you forget how bright the sun was?"

"Yes!" replied Aerrow. "I've barely even seen it for the past few months, remember?"

"Yeah, why is it always so bright?" asked Junko as he too raised a hand. "I get that it's the sun and all, but surely it doesn't have to be this bright _all _the time!"

"And anyway, it's so warm today!" Finn complained, tugging on his shirt collar. "We could have gone literally anywhere. We could have gone sky-surfing around Amazonia or actual surfing on Tropica, and where are we? _Rex._ The Land of Slow and Boring. And the squadron here are a big bunch of sissies! Why the hell are we here?!"

He would have ranted further, but the rattling of an engine prevented this as a second Sky Knight landed nearby.

"While I understand there are many places you'd rather be," said Starling as she dismounted, "I'm afraid your assistance is required."

"We received your message," said Aerrow as Piper tried to compose herself in the presence of her second-favourite Sky Knight. "What do you need help with?"

Starling looked him up and down. She definitely hadn't forgotten the state he had been in the last time they met.

"Follow me," she said eventually.

* * *

"I'm assuming you all know what happened several months ago," she said as she led them through the bizarrely quiet streets. "The people of this terra have only recently finished rebuilding after the damage caused by those quakes and I've been lending a hand wherever it's needed, and it's been needed in quite a few places in the past couple of weeks."

Finn kicked a stone aside.

"Looks pretty much the same to me," he commented.

"People on Rex take great pride in their architecture," Piper helpfully informed him. "And in their clothes and hair… and their gardens… and decorating… pretty much anything to do with appearances."

"Where's Harrier?" asked Aerrow. "I thought he'd be the one to come and greet us."

"That's why I called you here," Starling explained. "While they may have caused widespread destruction across the Atmos, the quakes had the added effect of unearthing a series of caves that nobody on this terra even knew existed. Until recently, that is. And so yesterday a certain semi-brainless dolt decided it may be a good idea to go down and explore them."

"Isn't that usually Domiwick's area of expertise?" asked Piper, who looked disgusted at having to say the explorer's name.

"Maybe, but you know Harrier," said Starling. "He'll be buggered if he lets anybody steal his glory."

Junko quietly asked Finn what 'buggered' meant and Finn whispered his reply, and both of them sniggered.

"Here it is," said Starling as she stopped walking. "He's somewhere down there."

They were faced with a well, its surrounding wall still cracked from the quakes and ivy growing up the wooden frame supporting its roof. It was about as cliché-looking as an old well can get.

Aerrow leaned over its wall and looked down.

"Hello?" he shouted.

"Is Little Timmy down there?" asked Finn with an obnoxious smile.

"Ha ha," Piper said flatly.

"Do you think this thing's gonna hold?" asked Junko, tapping the wooden roof. "It looks pretty brittle. Looks like it could only let one of us down there."

Frowning slightly, Aerrow felt the roof, and several strings of rotted-off timber drifted down into the blackness.

"I'll do it," he said.

"WHAT?" cried everyone else.

"Are you kidding?!" Piper almost yelled.

"With the condition you're in?" said Starling. "The last time I saw you, you had trouble even staying upright! And need we forget _this?_"

She held up his left arm, and he gently pulled it out of her grip.

"I swore I'd master this thing in a year, didn't I?" he said. "It's been almost that."

He looked around at his squadron.

"Guys, I can do this," he said. "I've been training and working out and I can use this thing now! Look!"

He waved his fingers, twisted his hand around on its wrist, flexed his elbow and rolled the entire arm around on his shoulder.

"See?" He put it down again. "I can't bear to spend another day cooped up in the Condor. I'll go nuts! And Junko's right; there's no way more than one of us is gonna get down there. I'm gonna do this and none of you can stop me."

With one foot on the wall, he looked back down into the depths of the well.

"I don't even want to know how you all kept him under control these past few months," Starling said, rubbing her forehead in exasperation.

"Trust us," said Piper, "it wasn't easy."

"Especially since he got even more nuts than he was before," said Finn, and to Aerrow he added. "I'm not gonna try to stop you, dude. 'Coz right now you look ready to scratch someone's eye out."

"I must be out of my mind," Piper said with a sigh. "Aerrow, if you really think you'll be able to do this, go ahead. We'll be right up here if you need help, and I'll make sure to go get my tools for if you need repairs. Which, considering your track record, you inevitably will."

Aerrow looked up at the blue creature on his shoulder.

"What do you think, Radarr?" he asked. "Wanna come with me?"

The co-pilot jumped onto the well's wall and looked down into the black depths, then examined the rope that trailed down into it. He pulled a small chunk of rock out of the wall and dropped it in, and it was several seconds before the faint sound of it hitting the ground echoed up to the top. He looked up, obviously worried, and let out a frightened little whine.

"It's okay," said Aerrow, scratching behind Radarr's ears. "I'll make it back up, I promise. And you don't have to come with me if you don't want to."

Radarr smiled faintly and jumped onto Aerrow's shoulder, then moved onto Finn's head – the marksman didn't bother objecting and decided to just make a face.

"You'll need these!" Junko said quickly, and he pulled out a pair of goggles. "'Coz it's dark down there. They're your light-enhancers, remember?"

"Why did you have those?" Finn asked as Aerrow took them and pulled them over his head.

"Because I think we should be ready for anything, okay?" Junko replied. "And I still haven't forgotten what you guys did to my collection when we crashed in the Black Gorge. I don't want anything else bad to happen to us! Is that wrong?"

"Certainly not," said Starling. "I can understand why you would want your squadron to be protected."

The Storm Hawks bowed their heads in respect.

It was several moments before Aerrow pulled the goggles over his eyes.

"I'm not going to die," he said, taking hold of the rope. "I'm going to come back up and I'm going to bring Harrier with me. You'll see. I am _not_ going to die."

He stepped off the wall and started working his way down into the well, pressing his feet against the stone for extra support. His left hand fumbled slightly as he descended and the stones under his feet were damp and slippery, but he didn't lose his grip.

After around five metres, he looked up again.

"How's it going down there?" Piper called.

"The stone's still kinda wet, but otherwise I'm fine!" he replied.

"Do you see the bottom yet?" asked Starling.

"Not yet, but it's definitely getting darker!" Aerrow reported. "I'm just trying not to slip, but it's hard when I can't really see what I'm doing! Hang on, I'm gonna use one of my blades for light!"

However, the moment he took one hand off the rope, his foot slipped on the stone and the force of his body jerking downward caused the rope to snap, and he crashed from side to side until he finally reached the bottom and fell flat on his face. His weapon clattered down after him and came to a rest by his side and the rope piled up on his back.

"Aerrow! Are you okay?" Piper yelled in shock.

"You alright down there, buddy?" shouted Finn.

"Say something!" Junko added.

Aerrow propped himself up on his elbows.

"I'm okay!" he called back. "I just slipped and fell. I've reached the bottom!"

"Do you see the entrance to the caves?" asked Starling.

Thanking his lucky stars that he was wearing those goggles, Aerrow seized his blade and switched it on, illuminating a large gap in the stone that was surrounded by fallen rocks and heralded nothing but blackness.

"Yeah, I see it!" he told his friends. "It is _stupid_ dark down there!"

"And it's only going to get darker, so you'll have to be careful!" Starling told him. "Good luck!"

He tossed the broken rope aside, pressed himself up onto his feet and, crouching to fit through the entrance, entered the caves.

"Thanks," he muttered. "I get the feeling I'm going to need it."

* * *

The group leant away from the wall around the well.

"He's fine," Piper said to nobody in particular. "He's gonna be okay. It's Aerrow, after all. He's always okay."

"Nobody alive on this terra knows what's down there," Starling said grimly. "I've half a mind to go down there myself and drag him out by the ear. He's a damned fool if he thinks something won't go wrong."

"Hey Piper, you think you could do a crystal thing and get the rope back?" asked Finn, staring down into the darkness of the well.

"You don't think it might be more logical to just get another rope?" Starling asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I hope Aerrow's alright down there," said Junko, leaning down alongside Finn. "You think his arm might've been damaged by the fall?"

"A fall like that would have damaged anything," Piper pointed out, "but you're right. I really hope he's as capable as he thinks he is."

* * *

Stupid dark didn't quite cover it, Aerrow considered as he navigated the tunnel system. Perhaps a more accurate description would have been wicked dark, or ridiculously dark, or – to be a little more blunt – very, very, very, _very _dark.

He pulled out one of his blades and held it up, switched on, for just a little bit more light. The tunnel was getting wider and darker the further he went, with more and more stalagmites jutting up out of the ground and the glow of his Striker-powered weapon glinting off wet stalactites that hung down from above.

"Hello?" he called. "Is there anyone down here? Can anybody hear me?"

_Hear me… me… me…_ his voice echoed and reverberated around the chamber.

Just how far did these caves go, exactly?

He wasn't entirely sure if he wanted to know.

Somewhere further in, he could hear the steady dripping of a stream of water trickling down from up above and splashing onto the stone he walked on. Aside from its faint echo, it was the only sound in this entire cavern.

And yet…

Aerrow couldn't help but sense something. Something strange and powerful. An almost overwhelming force that seemed to be leaking out of the ground. He almost wanted to take his boots off just to get a better sense of it.

Something moved behind him.

He turned to look, but there was nothing and nobody there.

"Harrier?" he called just in case.

Again, no reply.

He didn't like feeling this exposed, so he quickly found a side tunnel and entered it, glad to get away from the annoying dripping noises.

But he couldn't escape the feeling that he was being watched.

Something moved in the corner of his eye, but when he looked, there was nothing to see. Once again.

"Harrier?" he repeated. "Is that you?"

The first sensation was like a buzz, a constant flow of electricity that seeped up into his body, and it wasn't entirely unpleasant. If anything, it was one of the most interesting feelings that Aerrow had ever experienced in his life, as he couldn't even define the exact reason. It felt like something he needed, something he had been missing, something that he had been seeking out for who knew how long.

He didn't want this feeling to go away. It was as if it was something he had been _craving_ and he couldn't figure out why.

The second sensation – that of being watched – was far less desirable. It was uncomfortable, mainly manifesting as a prickle on the back of his neck as his hair stood on end (or at least more on end than it already was). It was similar in that he couldn't define the source, but the fact that he recognised the feeling only made it worse.

His ears twitched as they picked up the sound of something running past behind him. The fact that he turned around and still didn't see anything was really getting frustrating.

So he started walking backwards, holding out his activated energy blade in case anything dared to try to jump him, and moved slowly so that he didn't prompt anything to attack.

Until he backed into something.

Something _alive_.

He screamed and jumped back, twisting around and brandishing his blade, fully prepared to fire, but he knew it was strange that there would be a second scream coinciding with his.

Thankfully, it was exactly who he had been hoping to find, and he lowered his weapon with a sigh of relief.

"Thank god," he muttered, "it's you."

Harrier, however, was less impressed.

"You?!" he practically spat. "All of the Sky Knights in Atmos that they could have sent on a retrieval mission and they chose to bring in the _Storm Hawk?!_"

"Everybody else is busy rebuilding after the quakes," Aerrow stated. "You should know, I can only assume that was what you were doing until you decided to play explorer."

"Which is more than I could say for you," Harrier said, lowering his still-glowing sword and prodding the teen in the chest. "Would you mind telling me exactly where you have been this past year? Swanning around on Terra Tropica, no doubt!"

Aerrow pressed the finger aside.

"You know I don't do that," he said.

"Oh really?" Harrier said sceptically, crossing his arms. "Then where have you been all this time? This is exactly why youths should not be permitted to assume positions of power, because you just can't cope with the responsibility!"

'You sound like an angry teacher,' Aerrow thought.

"So are we gonna get out of here or what?" he asked.

"_Going to_," Harrier said emphatically. "Not 'gonna'. Do you have any idea how ridiculous you sound?"

'Look who's talking,' thought Aerrow.

"And in any case, I mustn't leave yet," said Harrier, raising his sword again. "There is a reason besides exploration that I wished to enter these caves. I will return when I'm finished, so there's no reason for you to be here. Please leave."

He turned and started walking away, still lit up by his sword.

"Leave?!" Aerrow said angrily. "You've been down here since yesterday! I was sent to get you because your terra needs you, you jackass!"

Harrier froze and looked back at him.

"Has it really been over a day?" he said. "Blimey…"

"So are you gonn- _going to_ come or what?"

"Well, since you put it so politely… no."

With that, he started walking away.

"Oh, come on!" Aerrow jogged after him and quickly caught up. "Is this because I was absent for so long? There's a pretty good reason behind that, but it's a hell of a long story and you probably wouldn't believe it anyway, so-"

He froze when a hand was clapped over his mouth. He pulled it off and was about to object, but was quickly shushed.

"What's the deal?" he whispered.

"You may not have noticed," Harrier whispered back, "but we are definitely not the only living beings in these caves. Have you, perchance, felt as though something was watching you?"

Aerrow nodded.

"Yeah," he muttered. "I don't like it."

"And I don't either," said Harrier. "Just stay quiet, alright? Unless you plan on assisting me should a fight ensue, I don't want you interfering."

"I've beaten you in a fight," Aerrow pointed out with a smile as he drew his blades, "I think I can handle whatever's down here."

They peered into the darkness.

And then something exploded out at them, a mass of teeth and claws and heavy, thick-looking fur.

"Maybe not!" Aerrow decided.

"Come on!" Harrier shouted.

He grabbed Aerrow's hand and dragged him down a tunnel, holding out his sword like a torch while the younger of the two fired bolts of energy from his blade at whatever the thing was that was chasing them.

"It's not doing anything!" he shouted.

"Do you not think I hadn't noticed that?!" Harrier demanded. "Just keep firing, I can barely see a bloody thing!"

Aerrow struggled to keep shooting. If he had leeway for logical thought, he'd probably be wondering why the creature looked so much like a Bog Howler, but right now he was more focused on the fact that it was large, angry and definitely trying very hard to hurt them. It opened its mouth wide and let out a massive roar, splattering Aerrow's face with fluid, and he fired again and hit it right between its nose and jaw. It fell to its knees, choking and gasping, but the Sky Knights didn't stop running until they reached another cavern, and Harrier fired into the ceiling, causing a cavalcade of rocks to fall and block the exit.

"Oh great," Aerrow said sarcastically. "Now how are we going to get out?"

"It's less a case of us getting out and more one of that creature not getting in!" Harrier pointed out. "Or would you rather we be torn to pieces?!"

"Alright!"

Aerrow bent double and tried to catch his breath.

"So what now?" he asked. "Do you actually have any idea where we are?"

Harrier didn't reply.

"Uh…" Aerrow straightened up. "Harrier? What is it?"

"This," Harrier said, holding his sword aloft, "is exactly what I entered these caverns to seek out."

Aerrow looked up at the cave's wall, and his jaw dropped.

An explosion of lines and colours had been spread all across the rock face, reaching right up the ceiling and all the way across to the end of the cavern. It was difficult to make out individual hues in the yellow light cast from Harrier's sword, so Aerrow held up his own blade for extra illumination. He could make out people, drawn like sticks and balloons as if by a child, and rocks under their feet that were crumbling away, with some of them obviously falling to their dooms. There were blocks and squares that represented buildings, greens that were supposed to be grass and trees, and above it all…

"Oh. My. God," was all Aerrow could say.

"Asaph have mercy," muttered Harrier.

An immense eye dominated the upper half of the painting, staring down at people real and sketched alike, coloured steely grey and wide and glowering and surrounded by black tendrils that split into fingers towards the end. Red lightning reached out from it like eyelashes, some bolts reaching down and blasting the earth to smithereens while others hit people, or at least, what used to be people.

"The Eye of Truth," Aerrow murmured. "But… how? Why?"

"You recognise this abomination?" asked Harrier.

"Kind of," Aerrow lied. "But how could it be here? It looks just like- How old are these paintings?"

"Nobody has entered these caves in a little over four hundred years," Harrier told him. "I can only assume these paintings are around the same age. These were put here before the Atmos we know today came to be. It may even be a depiction of the origin of the Atmos, for all we know. Do you see how the earth is being torn up?"

It was almost too much for Aerrow to take in all at once. How was it even possible for the Eye of Truth to have appeared in Atmos before, even once? The only times he could think of were the incident a few months ago and…

…and when… Ed had returned home…

"_**Isn't this what you were curious about?**_"

His arm fell limp and the weapon went flying out of his hand as he was hit by a sudden sharp blast of agony in his shoulder. His other hand flew up and gripped it while he fell to his knees and gasped in agony.

"Come on…" he groaned, "…not again!"

"What in the world are you doing?" asked Harrier. "What's the matter with you?"

Aerrow kneaded the balls of his hand into the flesh around his automail shoulder, trying to convince it to stop hurting. If only he had some painkillers, he could solve this problem in a heartbeat!

"It's okay," he said as he straightened up. "Just a cramp."

"A cramp?!" Harrier said disbelievingly. "You were in agony, boy! I understand that I may not be the most intelligent or perceptive gentleman in Atmos, but I can tell when I am being lied to. What is wrong with your shoulder?"

After testing that his arm was still functioning, Aerrow knelt down and picked up his weapon.

"It's a long story," he said. "Pretty hard to believe, too."

With his other hand, he reached out and felt the painted wall.

Almost instantaneously a sensation akin to a bolt of electricity raced into his body, entering through his fingers and into his chest, swirling around in his body and flowing out through the soles of his feet. It was like the feeling he'd discovered shortly before encountering Harrier, but much, much stronger. He felt almost like it was reaching into his mind, rearranging things, altering others…

He withdrew his hand, but the feeling remained.

"Are you alright?" asked Harrier, far more concerned than he had previously been. "You look as if you've seen a ghost."

"I… I think I have," Aerrow said softly. "I think…"

He stopped talking as the rocks blocking the entrance started rolling down, and the roars of the creature on the other side echoed into the chamber.

"You'd better be up for a fight," Harrier said, brandishing his sword. "I have a feeling it may be inevitable."

A clawed hand burst through the heap and started clawing at it from their side. Aerrow drew his other blade and adopted a fighting stance.

"Don't be so dramatic," he said confidently.

As if on cue, the monster exploded through the rock heap and roared in their faces. It charged towards them, lumbering and snarling, but before Aerrow could make a move, Harrier dived forwards, crouching low to the ground, and slashed at its underside, causing it to let out another bellow of rage.

"Whoa," Aerrow muttered in surprise.

With a deft spin and a swish of his sword, Harrier severed one of the monster's legs, but rather than the spray of blood both of them had been expecting, the remaining stump revealed a mess of wires and metal that sparked with electricity.

"A robot?!" Harrier gasped in shock.

Unfortunately, the attacking creature took advantage of his confusion and swatted him to one side, where he slammed into a stalagmite and fell heavily to the floor.

"Harrier!" Aerrow cried in shock.

He and the creature turned to one another, and as it roared, Aerrow noticed a very familiar-looking red light glowing inside its mouth.

And in an instant, everything made sense.

Aerrow narrowed his eyes and sheathed his blades.

"You shouldn't have done that," he snarled.

He wasn't even thinking anymore as he clapped his hands in front of his chest and slammed them down onto the ground and, as he had subconsciously hoped, a massive fist rose out of the rock and punched the hairy monster so high it almost hit the stalactites that hung from the ceiling. While it was airborne, Aerrow ran forward, clapping his hands, and the moment he pressed them against the stone fist was the moment it reshaped itself into a massive needle-sharp spike, and he jumped backwards as his enemy fell upon it and was impaled through its stomach, with wires, springs and rusted scraps of metal flying everywhere.

Before he had even slid to a halt, Aerrow clapped his hands again and caused a pillar of rock to launch him forward in a graceful arc to where he landed on the chest of the struggling monster. He plunged his left hand into its mouth, wrapped his fingers around the source of the red glow and ripped it out, ignoring how its razor-sharp teeth carved into his arm.

The creature fell limp and lifeless as soon as he was done, and only then did he pause to catch his breath.

He stared at the stone he now held, throbbing with a red glow. It was small, around the size of a marble, and in the shape of a perfect cube, but there was no mistaking what it was.

"A Philosopher's Stone?" he muttered. "How could…"

As he watched, the glow suddenly faded and the stone dissolved into dust, which fell between his fingers and disappeared into nothing.

"How?" he said under his breath. "Why would there be a Philosopher's Stone? How did…"

"Perhaps you could start by explaining why your arm is no longer flesh?"

Aerrow suddenly realised what he'd done. He looked down at his arm, at the shredded fabric that revealed the plating of his automail, and then looked up at Harrier, who was glaring at him with crossed arms and a tapping foot.

"Well?" he asked. "I'm waiting."

Cautiously, Aerrow tested the limb. It still functioned pretty much perfectly. He jumped down off the creature's chest.

"I'll tell you as we're heading out," he said. "Like I said, it's a long story."

* * *

"You _told him?!_" cried Junko.

"I didn't have a choice!" Aerrow pointed out, holding up his exposed automail. "Look, how was I supposed to hide this from anyone?"

"How much did he tell you?" Piper asked the taller Sky Knight sternly.

"He claims it was everything," Harrier reported. "Though I can't help but remain sceptical."

"No, trust me, it was everything," Aerrow told him.

"You'd better not go and spill your guts to the press, alright?" said Finn, poking a finger in Harrier's face. "'Coz if we hear about this on the next newscast, I am gonna know _exactly_ who to shoot."

The Rex Guardian casually pushed the finger aside.

"It would be dishonourable to reveal a comrade's secrets," he said. "I shall keep my word."

"Am I going to have to stay here to make sure you do?" asked Starling. "I wouldn't be surprised if you were to go blabbing to your hairdresser."

"Oh, he would!" said Finn. "He totally would! 'Coz he's a no-good jackass who doesn't know how to keep his mouth shut!"

"Speak for yourself!" Harrier retorted. "You must have the largest mouth I've ever seen in my life, you uncouth adolescent!"

"Don't call me stuff when I don't know what it means!" Finn snapped angrily.

"Ladies, you're both pretty, please stop squabbling," Starling said as she stepped between them and pressed them apart.

Finn and Harrier were too busy making faces at each other to both arguing against being called 'ladies'.

"You'd better let me take a look at your arm when we get back to the Condor," Piper said, holding up the metal limb. "If you've damaged it, I swear-"

"Yeah, I get it," said Aerrow, and then he turned to Harrier. "You gonna be okay?"

He smiled with satisfaction as the older Sky Knight cringed at his vocabulary.

"Aside from the pain your dreadful manner of speaking may have dealt me," he said, "I believe I will be fine. Thank you for your assistance."

"No problem," Aerrow said, proudly saluting with his metal hand. "Okay, Storm Hawks; let's move out. I've got something special to show you when we get back to the Condor."

"Really?!" Finn excitedly hopped from foot to foot. "Did you bring back one of the monster's claws? That would be _awesome!_"

"It is something you got down there, right?" asked Junko.

"Please tell me it's not something stupid," said Piper.

"Oh, it is _anything_ but stupid," Aerrow said smugly. "Pretty sure it's gonna blow your minds."

* * *

The other two Sky Knights watched them leaving.

"I honestly have no idea how they function," Harrier said exasperatedly.

"And yet they do," Starling said happily. "Funny how the world works, isn't it?"

"Indeed," said Harrier. "That boy… he's just like _him_."

"So it would seem," said Starling. "And he doesn't even realise."

* * *

Aerrow sat, staring straight ahead with the flattest possible expression, as bottle after bottle of disinfectant was sprayed all over his body.

"Are you almost done?" he asked.

"Almost!" said Stork and he tossed away the empty can. "Now with the weed killer! You never know what kind of nasties you could have brought up from down there!"

"Stork, I'm fine!" Aerrow objected as Radarr leapt onto his shoulder. "I don't have anything catching on me, I promise!"

Radarr shooed away the indignant Merb, who sat down on the couch looking angry, yet defeated.

"You want to be careful not to get any of that stuff inside his arm," Piper said as she screwed the fresh plating onto the Sky Knight's automail. "Who knows what it could do to the lubricant?"

"You, uh, did kill that thing, didn't you?" asked Stork. "I don't wanna wake up and find it looming over me in the middle of the night!"

"Even if it did survive, it's pretty far underground," Aerrow pointed out. "Either way you don't have anything to worry about. It's gone for good."

"It'd better be," Stork mumbled.

The door slid open and Finn and Junko entered.

"Okay," Junko said cheerfully, "we got your jacket!"

"Yeah, so are you gonna show us this thing or what?" Finn took the red garment and tossed it at the Sky Knight's head.

Aerrow waited until Piper had tightened the final screw, then stood up and tried to pull the coat on, but it was obviously too short in both back and sleeve length and rather tight across the back.

"Hang on a sec," he said.

He clapped his hands and grabbed the fabric, which crackled with electricity and then expanded across his back and down his arms, and lengthened to his knees. It wasn't as thick, but still soft and very comfy.

"Yeah," he said, "that's better."

The faces of his squadmates pretty much made his day.

"Dude, was that alchemy?!" Finn exclaimed in shock.

"You bet," said Aerrow with a smile.

"That's incredible!" cried Piper. "That's brilliant!"

"You're an alchemist!" Junko said joyfully, hugging the redhead from behind. "I'm so proud of you!"

"Yeah…" Aerrow choked, "I'm proud too!"

"I think you'd better put him down before his face turns blue," Piper said with a giggle.

"Oh," said Junko as he dropped the Sky Knight, "sorry!"

"It's fine," Aerrow wheezed, as he accepted a far more gentle hug from Radarr.

"Looks like all that studying paid off after all," said Piper. "This is going to make our lives a whole lot easier."

"And a whole lot _cooler!_" added Finn. "Unless you lose your leg too and then start complaining about people calling you short. Then I'm gonna have to punch you or something."

"I hope you don't," said Stork, producing a notepad, "because I've compiled a detailed list of all the things around the Condor which definitely need a touch of transmutation. The floor in the hold is beginning to crack and could definitely use as thorough a sealing as possible, as could the walls in the bathroom and the kitchen, which also needs to have the shutters over its window fixed. Also, there's a creak in the walls in the hangar bay which I'm pretty sure isn't supposed to be there-"

"Uh, Stork?" said Junko.

"-could most certainly use a little reinforcement. And I think the windscreen is beginning to crack in the corners of at least two of the panes, possibly three if you count the central one, and the starboard periscope also has a scratch in its lens which can easily be resolved-"

"Dude? Hello?" Finn tried.

"-plus there are still around twenty-seven minor dents in the surface of the runway from previous fire fights, as well as fourteen small scorch marks and eight less small ones, and the steering system could _definitely_ use a boost-"

As he continued rambling, Aerrow held up one hand with all fingers outstretched, then slowly counted down from five…

Four…

Three…

Two…

One…

"_**STORK!**_"

The combined shouts of his teammates was enough to snap the helmsman back to reality, but he wasn't happy about it.

"WHAT?!" he demanded. "What is so important?"

The rest of the Storm Hawks could no longer contain their laughter.

It was six minutes past five in the afternoon.

Eleven months after the departure of Edward Elric.


End file.
